A conservative, we all know, is a liberal who's been mugged. So what's a conservative who's been wrongly arrested?
Michael Ratcliff
Don Stapley's ordeal helped inspire a meeting last week where activists called for new county policies to rein in Sheriff Joe Arpaio.
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My answer: Don Stapley.
Until recently, the longtime county supervisor had a reputation as a middle-of-the-road Arizona Republican — a Mormon with serious roots in the community (Stapley Drive got its name from his great-grandfather) and mainstream views. He dabbled in development and got along with the business community. He used his bully pulpit to take on such obvious villains as crystal meth and breast cancer. His son and daughter-in-law both worked for the Sheriff's Office.
Then came the indictment, charging Stapley with 118 criminal counts for what were essentially paperwork errors. And, after their dismissal, there was an arrest, without an indictment or even a prosecutor's involvement. There was an announcement that Stapley's assistant was under investigation, for the shocking "crime" of notarizing some paperwork on behalf of his private business. There was, finally, a second indictment.
And of course there were lawyer fees, big fat lawyer fees: more than $1 million at last count.
The upshot, I think, is that Stapley's been radicalized.
Don't get me wrong: He's not about to join Students for a Democratic Society or fight for socialized medicine. But I do think that his arrest has made him keenly aware of the power of unchecked law enforcement. (I don't think it's a coincidence that Stapley's son has quit the Sheriff's Office and now works for the public defender.)
And just as I believe the world would benefit from a few more liberals getting mugged, it's been refreshing to me to see this politically connected conservative's response to some very bad things: He's now using his office to help publicize Sheriff Joe Arpaio's abuses.
Last week, in fact, Stapley and fellow supervisor Mary Rose Wilcox held a forum at the supervisors' auditorium on Jefferson Street. The two politicians made brief opening remarks, then almost immediately turned the floor over to an activist group that's made its name calling for Arpaio's head.
The Maricopa Citizens for Safety and Accountability, led by attorney Randy Parraz, has been raising hell about Arpaio for two years, both on the streets and at meetings of the board of supervisors. The latter location has proved especially problematic: Sheriff's deputies have repeatedly arrested group members who've spoken out, and the county attorney has prosecuted them for disorderly conduct. (In every case, they've been acquitted.)
That contentious history is one reason last week's meeting was so remarkable. Because Stapley and Wilcox invited the group to a "private meeting" — wink wink — the sheriff's deputies providing security had no choice but to stand by and listen to activists rail against them. As the television cameras recorded, a series of presenters detailed the problems with Arpaio: his mismanagement, his abuse of power, his poor law enforcement techniques.
It was all the more powerful because the speakers, for the most part, were in Arpaio's target demographic. Chad Snow is a clean-cut Mormon attorney who voted for the sheriff four times before seeing the light. Tommy Collins is a retired lieutenant commander of a Colorado police department who, upon moving to Arizona, "made the mistake of voting for Joe Arpaio" in the 2004 Republican primary. His words.
Now both men have become crusaders.
"I'm also a fiscal conservative," Snow told the supervisors, "and as a fiscal conservative, I'm outraged."
Collins was just as pointed. "Where is Adrian Cruz today?" he demanded, referring to the child rapist who slipped out of the sheriff's custody one year ago and has yet to be apprehended.
Those are fighting words. Yet with Stapley and Wilcox on the dais, listening and even nodding, there was nothing the sheriff's men could do.
And then Stapley spoke.
The headline that's come out of the meeting is that Stapley called Arpaio and his sidekick, County Attorney Andrew Thomas, "evil." As usual, the headline is a bit of an oversimplification: Stapley did say that, but his remarks in context are even more worthy of quotation.
Stapley talked about how he and a colleague — presumably another county supervisor — had a little chuckle over a headline in the Arizona Republic referring to the fact that Arpaio and Thomas had been forced to drop their racketeering lawsuit accusing the supervisors of being part of a criminal enterprise. Although Stapley didn't specify, I think the story must have been a March 17 editorial claiming "County Drama Concludes with a Whimper."
But the drama isn't over, as Stapley and his colleague are well aware. Yes, Arpaio and Thomas had to drop the inane lawsuit. And, yes, even their desperate attempt to save face has been exposed as a lie, and a clumsy one at that.
We now know Arpaio and Thomas did not dismiss the suit because they've finally gotten the U.S. Department of Justice to take up the investigations, as they claimed at a press conference two weeks ago. The Justice Department, we now know, only agreed to review the accusations in the way they'd review any accusations from a citizen. The director of the agency's Public Integrity Section actually sent Arpaio and Thomas' lawyer a blistering letter, condemning their dog-and-pony show and reminding him that it's Arpaio and Thomas whom the feds are actively investigating.
